Resource: Mejia v. Bd. of Elections in the City of NY

By: COVID-Related Election Litigation Tracker

September 5, 2020

Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project

Joselin Mejia submitted a petition to validate her application to be a candidate on the ballot for the Democratic Party primary election held on June 23, 2020. She had filed her application without a cover sheet, which the Board of Elections for the City of New York found to be a wholly uncurable default which completely invalidated her application. The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Bronx County, agreed with the Board, citing relevant authority. The Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department overturned the lower court’s ruling, finding that under the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of a cover sheet was not a fatal defect to Mejia’s application; although a cover sheet may be necessary for administrative convenience, it could not outweigh the right to ballot access in such unusual circumstances as the pandemic. This ruling was itself reversed.

https://healthyelections-case-tracker.stanford.edu/detail?id=159